Instant Reaction to the Charlotte Hornets Trade For Marco Belinelli
The Charlotte Hornets may have messed up on draft night once again as they have reportedly traded their first round pick to the Sacramento Kings for Marco Belinelli.
The Charlotte Hornets have a history of fumbling their draft pick in recent history and they may have done it again in 2016. The team held the 22nd overall pick in the first round of the NBA Draft until they traded the pick to the Sacramento Kings for shooting guard, Marco Belinelli. This is yet another example of the Hornets messing up on draft night.
Charlotte officially selected Malachi Richardson with the 22nd pick but he will be headed to Sacramento. He has the potential to be better than Marco as he is a wing player that would’ve cost the team less money. The Hornets may have prematurely pulled the gun on the trade for Belinelli. They could have waited out through the draft until their pick got closer instead of making a trade before the draft began.
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If the Hornets would’ve waited it out and kept the pick, they could have potentially drafted Skal Labissiere, Deyonta Davis, Tyler Ulis, Demetrius Jackson, Cheick Diallo, Ben Bentil, or Brice Johnson. These guys all dropped in the draft and could have immediately helped the team. They were all potential lottery to mid-first round picks.
The Hornets have made questionable choices in the NBA Draft over the past nine seasons when they drafted Adam Morrison. Since then the team has drafted poorly in players like D.J. Augustin, Gerald Henderson, and Noah Vonleh. The only positive move that the team has made was for Kemba Walker.
Last summer, Charlotte passed up on a deal from the Boston Celtics for four future first round picks and instead drafted Frank Kaminsky. They also passed up on Justise Winslow and Devin Booker who have shown more upside in their first season than Frank.
The stigma surrounding the Charlotte Hornets poor draft choices continue this season as they have made yet another questionable move. This deal for an aging Marco Belinelli who is set to make $6.3 million over the next two seasons, is not ideal to say the least. He is also coming off of a career worst year when he shot only 38.6% from the field and 30.6% from the three-point.
The team was supposed to be focused on shedding money and creating cap space for free agency this summer. They will have plenty of key players on the open market that they were hoping to re-sign but the addition of Marco takes away $6.3 million on the Hornets’ cap that could’ve been saved if they traded the pick for a player with a lesser contract or if they drafted a rookie whose deal would have been a rookie scale of only $1.1 million.
Developing a rookie for a few seasons or bringing him off of the bench would have been a better move for the team. The Belinelli deal does not make the team any better than last season and might actually have made them worse if they are not able to re-sign some of their key players.
What makes the trade even worse is that the Brooklyn Nets moved up into he 20th spot, two spots ahead of the Hornets, and they had to trade Thaddeus Young to the Indiana Pacers for that deal. Young is a player that averaged 15.1 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game. The Pacers got a great player, compared to Belinelli, for the 20th pick and Charlotte could only get an aging player like Marco just two spots lower.
Next: The Hornets Trade For Marco Belinelli
This was an absolutely horrible trade for the Charlotte Hornets. I expect Belinelli to play well for the team next season because he fits into their system and can spread the floor with his shooting ability but they made yet another bad move on draft night. They lost cap space, took on an aging player, and did not get significantly better for next season with the move.